John Bunyan was a christian man born about four hundred years ago. He was born in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England. At first he repaired kitchen utensils, however, when the English civil war broke out he joined the parliamentary army. He then married a woman (her name is lost in the sands of time) who persuaded him to go to church. Where he heard the Gospel, and after a long internal struggle he became a Christian. Soon after J. Bunyan began to preach. But, in those days if you wanted to preach you had to have a license, and John Bunyan didn't have a license, so he was thrown into jail for twelve years. Another reason that they imprisoned him was for his non-conformist beliefs. During his imprisonment he wrote some of his most well known books, among them are Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and The Pilgrims Progress. However, in 1682 he wrote a book called: The Holy War Made By King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, To Regain The Metropolis Of The World, or The Losing And Taking Again Of The Town Of Mansoul.
This is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. In it Bunyan explores how man has fallen from a sinless estate into sin. He takes a look at how mankind has turned its soul over to Satan(Diabolus) and his accompanying vices(the Diabalonians). He then shows Gods(Shaddia) amazing love in sending his Son(the Prince) who redeemed Mansoul, and was then sent to recapture it. The book also tells of the assaults on the Ear-Gate, Eye-Gate, Mouth-Gate, Nose-Gate, and Feel-Gate. When The Prince comes and takes over the city it tells of the great trials, at which all the Diabalonians that could be caught were tried and executed.
As I read this book many things stuck out to me, however, I will only name a few.
I. Gods love for a wretched human such as I. When reading this book I kept thinking "there is no way any king would do that for a city that was that rebellious. If you read history you will find that many cities were raised to the ground for crimes that were far less than those of Mansoul. Yet again and again the Kings sends His men and finally the Prince to take the city and gently lead it back to its former glory.
II. When the captains send a petition to the King it is intercepted by the Prince, who after reading it amends it and puts His own signature on it and then personally delivers it to the King. What a wonderful picture of prayer. We do not have to rely on our weak words because the Holy Spirit is interceding for us.
III. The third thing that struck me was the trials. As the Diabolonians were being tried many attempted to disguise themselves as native Mansoulians. For example Mr. Covetous said his name was Mr. Thrifty and Mr. False Peace said his name was Mr. God's Peace. As you read through these trials you begin to realize that these Diabolonians are your own sins. The arguments that Mr. False Peace uses are the same that you use to justify yourself. John Bunyan does and excellent job of exposing who the people really are, and of showing through their lies.
Well those are just a few of the reasons you should read The Holy War by John Bunyan. I intend to do more post on books that I have read and why you should also read them.
In Christ,
Eric
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